Ushering in a New Year

The following is a facebook post I shared with my facebook community on New Year's Eve from West Hollywood, California:

My Aussie brethren have already rung in the New Year, but we’re still on the steady march to midnight in the city of angels. Approx 6.5 hours to go. I have the Pol Roger and Billecart packed and making a Samin Nosrat chicken pot pie — simmering away on the stove. Will make my way to Zach’s apartment in the Westside suburb of Mar Vista early evening for an intimate send off to a rather memorable year!

I joined a virtual Buddhist meditation on Monday night and we were encouraged to reflect on the year that was. It was so useful that I’m putting on the same recording tonight so Zach can experience it too. He and I will then, with a glass of champagne in hand, reflect back on the highs and lows of 2020.

For a long time, I sought a life partner who matched me - and while I’ve had a somewhat colorful love life with characters in it who will always be endearing, Zach is my best suitor to date! (Let’s hope he sticks around.)

I was always very anti dating much younger men (naturally skeptical that they would soon seek out younger women) but it was in my 40s that I felt liberated enough to throw caution to the wind and see where the tide took me with the 28 year old intellect who just happened to share my love of Shakespeare. He’s been the most solid companion going on three years now. We are peas in a pod, helpful that he likes peas, and quite frankly - beyond the warm weather and my penchant for celebrity spotting, my anchor to LA.

I do miss Oz, and like Peter Allen, “I still call Australia home.” I’m thankful for those back in my homeland for keeping up their connection and buoying me on. My Aussie friend Justine likes to say “you’re like a cat, always land on your feet,” and I must admit, it’s been a slippery road in 2020 - but I’m incredibly grateful to my American PR community for throwing me a freelance bone when I’ve needed one. That hasn’t meant I’ve not had to hustle. Oh hustle hard I have. I have PR mates the world over and despite the industry’s changes along with “digital disruption,” their encouragement and support has helped me to hang on.

My oftentimes pesky personality and stubborn traits has seen me estranged from a few - I haven’t seen or spoken to my older brother and his two kids in three years and people I would have liked to hold as good friends have let go. My good old dad and I have had a tumultuous road since he met his wife 20 years ago, but I’m pleased to say we’re in a good place now. I cherish our history, familial bond, and our great love of my late mother!

So, it’s to the tried and true, that I raise my Winston Churchill favorite tipple (Pol Roger) to you all - as we sing, “should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?”

Happy New Year!